Anybody here use the SPOT Global Phone? I'm over 70, but I hunt a lot of fairly remote country, none of which has cell service. Also, married to a "worrier'.

Was just talking to someone about that. If the globalstar network was worth a crap here, I'd be in the market.

Nobody has used this phone?

I'm 78 and in the same camp you are. I also am married to a worrier. Been trying to find out the same thing.

I have not used the SPOT phone. However, I have done a couple backpack trips with no cell service. With me in Idaho and my family in NC, being out of communication for 4-5 days wasn't an option. I rented a satellite phone and used it to call home each evening to check in when on a solo backpack trip. Also having it in case of emergency makes sense when "out there" with no cell service.

The rental was reasonable, it was in the $66 range. That included FedEx shipping both ways. Airtime is extra. Time ain't cheap, it's like a buck a minute but we didn't have long conversations, just check in to let everyone know all was well on both ends.

It was a globalstar phone, not iridium. The globalstar satellites are supposedly not as good as iridium as far as the call quality goes.
It worked well for me.

I had no issues in Idaho's Sawtooth Nat Forest up north of Ketchum. I think we dropped one call but called back and reconnected. Call quality was good. Doesn't work as well if you're down in a hole with tree cover around. You need a clear sky view.



I rented it and used it on a solo hunt in 2012. Very glad I did. In 2013 on a pack trip with Rockchuck we were in an area with where we could get cell reception. I rented it again last year on a trip with Rockchuck and we both used it then.

The place I rented from:

Satellite Phone Solutions
561-962-5541 or toll free, 888-277-0103

try DeLorme InReach for iridium based texting.....it's great for me

Always worked for me as well.

Question: Can you reach first responders (911) with the Delorme InReach?

Yes. The DeLorme InReach has a lockable separate dedicated button that sends to whatever Search and Rescue operates in that part of the world.

I've used mine regularly going into my third year with it. Just texted my wife to tell her I was injured and coming home early, from the back side of nowhere on logging roads on the west side of Vancouver Island. Closer to home and towns I stopped by a resort lodge and they don't have cell phone nor anything but direct satellite communications. The DeLorme worked great, as it has from N.Saskatchewan to Canadian Rockies, remote B.C. coast, WA State and N. Carolina coast.

I'm near 70 and carry it all the time.

Delorme in reach text messaging for me too. I tried SPOT on one trip in N Canada and it gave false "Message Sent" signals. My Delorme has worked flawlessly from Northern BC to Uzbekistan.

Also currently use a Delorme InReach.

I used a global star phone for a long time for work and recreation and it was very hit and miss. I think they may have put up some more satellites since then, but it was never as good as the iridium coverage and quality (used that one too).

If I needed a phone I would rent one as others have suggested (have done that successfully multiple times), but i would rent an iridium.

I'd steer clear of anything SPOT. After my experience with their SPOT Connect I'm going to purchase an InReach. The spot product was hit or miss and would indicate a message was sent but in actuality it was about a 75% success rate at best, nothing to count on when you really need it. After several years I got fed up. This past May I called and told them to cancel since I would never be using the dumb thing again.

Fast forward to the first week of August when I discovered they hit my CC for $100 for their annual user fee. I called to get it straightened out. They would only give me a partial refund, "pro-rated" at $81, a week after I found the charge. The two people I spoke with were jerks about it and claimed they had no record of my previous cancellation. I told them their record keeping is about as good as their message transmission. Then I called my credit card and cancelled the charge. Problem solved.

In my experience they're a jerk company with haphazard results.

I've used the connect and the InReach, but cant comment on the SPOT phone. InReach all the way. I texted from the arctic no problem. Two way comms is so much better